Coyote taking down a Whitetail

[tarbe]

Buddy of mine shot this one 2 years ago on my place in MO.

He had just shot a buck and not 10 seconds later this yote was on the buck's blood trail.

Must have been hungry!

 

[Royal27]

We'll see. I'm getting back from SA on the 15th. I was serious about the empty wallet comment!

I'm broke WAY before DSC, so if you won't have an empty wallet until after then you're doing great!

 

[spike.t]

I have just witnessed the aftermath of coyotes and a hard snow at one of my hunting spots.
ZERO deer present. Last fall there were 60 deer in the pasture.

We spent a good deal of time last winter addressing the issue.
It was obviously to little to late.

More work to be done this winter. Sounds like you have some work to do as well Royal.

read about you lot over there shooting them when you can ,but never realised they were such a problem.

 

[Royal27]

read about you lot over there shooting them when you can ,but never realised they were such a problem.

You want to know where they are a REAL problem Mike? Urban areas, they LOVE cats and dogs. Yum!!!!

We sure don't have predators like Africa, but this one is very adaptable!

 

[K-man]

That's right about the urban areas. They have no predators to worry about, no one shoots them in the backyard, there only enemy is a car bumper. Lots of dog and cat food left on the porch overnight, too.

 

[ArmyGrunt]

I have just witnessed the aftermath of coyotes and a hard snow at one of my hunting spots.
ZERO deer present. Last fall there were 60 deer in the pasture.

We spent a good deal of time last winter addressing the issue.
It was obviously to little to late.

More work to be done this winter. Sounds like you have some work to do as well Royal.

give me a call. I'll be glad to help with the coyote problem. I'm new enough to hunting that I have no idea where I could go locally to help with the problem here. And my buddies always seem to forget me wanting to help.

 

[ArmyGrunt]

That's right about the urban areas. They have no predators to worry about, no one shoots them in the backyard, there only enemy is a car bumper. Lots of dog and cat food left on the porch overnight, too.

I was out running in Small-Town, Indiana one night and saw two of them following me. Rather, skirting the top of the hill in a cemetery. Talk about pucker factor! There was one that had gone behind me. No more late night running without some kind of weapon....
Sad part, that particular area was recently annexed into the city limits, so I couldn't even sit in a field right there to watch for them, suppressed. How does the meat taste from this predator? I've read the cats are pretty good.

 

[K-man]

I was out running in Small-Town, Indiana one night and saw two of them following me. Rather, skirting the top of the hill in a cemetery. Talk about pucker factor! There was one that had gone behind me. No more late night running without some kind of weapon....
Sad part, that particular area was recently annexed into the city limits, so I couldn't even sit in a field right there to watch for them, suppressed. How does the meat taste from this predator? I've read the cats are pretty good.

I'm not sure how the meat is, I never had the desire to try. I believe you are what you eat, and they eat some nasty things. I'll stick with venison and elk, thank you. You might try a bow or crossbow - the neighbors will never know !!!!!!!

 

[spoonieduck]

So this morning I saw something I've never seen before.

I was sitting in a blind on a powerline, when I heard something running through the woods, and I mean running. I grabbed my rifle having no clue what was making the racket when out popped a doe followed very closely by a coyote. She came right out into the food plot that the blind watches as well.

Right below the food plot is a little creek, with very thick briar and brambles on the other side. She cut to the left and jumped the little creek, which was a mistake. The thick stuff slowed her down and the coyote caught up to her. There was some zigging and zagging and at one point I could see nothing up the white tail sticking up above the briars. I couldn't see the coyote then, but it obviously had the deer hamstrung and the struggle was on.

I had my rifle up and was quickly debating whether to shoot or not. A small opening filled with fur helped the decision and i pulled the trigger. I didn't see either animal run off, but could see some steam/breath coming out of the briars and then a few secones later the deer appeared, stopped in the open for a second, andthen ran off.

I went to the spot and no coyote. As it was still early I just looked quickly and went back to the stand. Going back and looking more widely I found blood and where the coyote had gone. Some kind of watery and some dark blood. I'm guessing I gut shot it and perhaps clipped the liver? The blood definitely wasn't from the deer as the deer had never gone where I found the blood. I'm shocked that I didn't find the coyote, but I guess that it already had enough adrenaline pumping that it went farther than it might normally have.

It was definitely an exciting experience to watch, albeit tempered by wounding an animal. I hate wounding anything, even a coyote. Ugh.

At times a coyote can take a licking. One time I shot one with a 7 Rem mag at 150 yds. He ran a few yards and sat on his haunches with his head pointing up and his mouth wide open. Fascinated--and knowing the coyote was finished--I watched for awhile. A big splotch of blood spread over his left flank until the blood covered much of the left side of his body and his left hind leg. The coyote walked into a thick clump of black brush. I walked over expecting to find him dead. I found blood leading into the thickest part of the black brush. Then the blood stopped. Despite looking hard, I never found him….and he was hit center mass with a 7 mag.

 

[spoonieduck]

I'm not sure how the meat is, I never had the desire to try. I believe you are what you eat, and they eat some nasty things. I'll stick with venison and elk, thank you. You might try a bow or crossbow - the neighbors will never know !!!!!!!

I've eaten coyote and bobcat, too. I made a stew out of the bobcat and invited a few friends. One of these fellows liked it so much that he asked me if I would give him some to serve to the girls in the office. OK. I never had the nerve to try coyote, however, although I know the Vietnamese and other asians eat dog and that dog was a highly desired food by various tribes of American Indians. Louis and Clark would have starved to death if the locals hadn't given them dogs. Well, I thought, a coyote is for all intents and purposes a dog. Even smells like one. So once I shot a young female and skinned her on a cold Winter's evening. I looked out at the hanging carcass in the morning and thought the meat didn't look half bad. I cut off some chops, fried them up and had them for breakfast. I thought it was better than whitetail deer but I haven't tried it again.

 

[tarbe]

I know a guy in Michigan who eats yotes regularly and enjoys it.

Don't plan to go there myself!

 

[spoonieduck]

I know a guy in Michigan who eats yotes regularly and enjoys it.

Don't plan to go there myself!

On the other hand I think there is something to "You are what you eat." I live on the Rio Grande and do a lot of duck hunting but our ducks, in general, aren't as good to eat as they are--say--in the rice fields of Louisiana. I draw special attention to the gadwall [gray duck]. These ducks are perfectly decent in South Louisiana. In South Texas you have to marinade them for three days in the refrigerator and, still, they ain't much. I'm sure it has to do with a straight rice diet versus a diet of hydrilla and river mussels.

Also, in terms of four-footers, I tried possum twice. The first time that quality was that of overly fat but sweet-tasting pork. So I reckoned I'd found a new source of high-quality protein. I cooked up another. It was still fat but the flavor was four kinds of terrible. I can only imagine what the second possum had been eating.

By the way we had the opportunity to try--side by side--hippo and black wildebeest several months ago. Both were old bulls and both were excellent. They were cooked rare and the quality was that of very high quality beef--a LOT better than my local whitetails. I don't know what cut of meat the hippo was but the black wildebeest was backstrap. If anything, I'd give the slight edge to the wildebeest but it is possible that hippo backstrap would be the best of all.

 

[ArmyGrunt]

The red hartebeest back strap I had from my hunt in Sept was better than any ribeye I've ever had. My family raises a few cows all year round, and I get part of them often. Grass fed, sometimes grain, but that red beest blew them out of the water! It was around four years old.

 

[BigSteve57]

You want to know where they are a REAL problem Mike? Urban areas, they LOVE cats and dogs. Yum!!!!

We sure don't have predators like Africa, but this one is very adaptable!

HEY send a few our way!!!
I'm sure they would get along just great with my neighbor's miniature Dachshund that barks in the early morning and late evening, just like a free alarm clock.

 

[Royal27]

the way we had the opportunity to try--side by side--hippo and black wildebeest several months ago. Both were old bulls and both were excellent. They were cooked rare and the quality was that of very high quality beef--a LOT better than my local whitetails. I don't know what cut of meat the hippo was but the black wildebeest was backstrap. If anything, I'd give the slight edge to the wildebeest but it is possible that hippo backstrap would be the best of all.

And I think this definitely supports the what they eat theory. When I ate hippo I was not impressed at all. It just had no flavor. It wasn't bad, just bland. We had hippo lasagna that was bland. A week later the same lasagna with buff instead was outstanding!

 

[Gsxrmike]

This morning I saw two coyotes kill a rather friendly feral cat I had been feeding and trying to get tame enough to catch and have neutered.
I wish I had been carrying a rifle. I intend to start coyote hunting very soon.

 

[spoonieduck]

And I think this definitely supports the what they eat theory. When I ate hippo I was not impressed at all. It just had no flavor. It wasn't bad, just bland. We had hippo lasagna that was bland. A week later the same lasagna with buff instead was outstanding!

Yep, I don't know that much about hippo diets but I strongly suspect that it varies with geography. The hippo I ate was remarkably from the northern natal, at the foot of the Drakensburg and probably got quite a lot of farm diet. Your hippo might have been living on an insipid diet of water hyacinth. Fish show a similar tendency which is why some farm-raised catfish is terrible. The farmer doesn't turn the water over often enough. Top quality fish need top quality water and good feed. Once I caught a bass in the Atchafalaya Basin in Louisiana. I caught it at the dead end of a foul smelling bayou that was probably fixing to go 'dead' due to low oxygen. The fish was awful. Maybe the worst fish I ever tasted. You are, indeed, what you eat.

 

[lcq]

Yep, I don't know that much about hippo diets but I strongly suspect that it varies with geography. The hippo I ate was remarkably from the northern natal, at the foot of the Drakensburg and probably got quite a lot of farm diet. Your hippo might have been living on an insipid diet of water hyacinth. Fish show a similar tendency which is why some farm-raised catfish is terrible. The farmer doesn't turn the water over often enough. Top quality fish need top quality water and good feed. Once I caught a bass in the Atchafalaya Basin in Louisiana. I caught it at the dead end of a foul smelling bayou that was probably fixing to go 'dead' due to low oxygen. The fish was awful. Maybe the worst fish I ever tasted. You are, indeed, what you eat.

Diet is everything. The deer I used to hunt ate deer food and were gamey. The ones I hunt now are corn and soya fat, don't even taste like deer